NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] How to Look at FCC Decision: Sweeping or Narrow? (Pick one) From BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, August 1 – The Federal Communication Commission's enforcement action against Comcast can be seen either as a limited response to a company's deceptive practices, or a sweeping new venture by the agency into regulating internet policy.
In ruling against Comcast on Friday, the agency ordered the company to "disclose the details of its discriminatory network management practices," "submit a compliance plan" to end those practices by year-end, and "disclose to customers and the [FCC] the network management practices that will replace current practices."
At issue in the decision was whether Comcast had engaged in "reasonable network management" practices when it delayed and effetively blocked access to users of BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer software program.
Although BitTorrent had already settled its complaints with Comcast, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said that FCC action was necessary because the complaint had been brought by Free Press and Public Knowledge, two non-profit groups. The FCC did not impose a fine.
Martin said that he viewed the agency's decision to punish the cable operator as a quasi-judicial matter: a "fact-intensive inquiry" against a specific company that it found to have "selectively block[ed]" peer-to-peer traffic.
That interpretation would make the FCC action more limited. A statement by AT&T Senior Vice President Jim Cicconi – that "the FCC decided to handle the matter on its own unique facts, setting a wise precedent for dealing with such complaints on a case-by-case basis" — supported that interpretation.
On the other hand, Martin acknowledged that the order against Comcast did set a precedent for future action against other network operators. And he said that the agency had authority to hear and resolve any such complaints of network neutrality violations.
Net neutrality generally refers to legislation or regulation that would bar Bell companies and cable operators from expediting the internet delivery of favored business partners' content – or blocking the content of rivals. The issue has become a political hot potato in the general election.
The ability for the FCC to become the venue for such future complaints would suggest a more sweeping interpretation of the action. On a Friday conference call, pro-Net neutrality advocates pushed that view, calling it a "bellweather case" and or, as Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said, "a landmark decision."
A Net neutrality critic at the Progress and Freedom Foundation (PFF), a free-market think tank, called the decision "quite intrusive."